Improvement in refrigerator-cars



-UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IMPROVEMENT IN REFRIG'ERATOR-CARS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 171,491, dated December28, 1875; application filed i l December 1, 1875.

To all whom it may concern: A

Be it known that I, JAMES TURNER, 'of the pity of Chicago, Cook county,State of Illinois, "Ihave invented new and useful Improvements )inRefrigerator-Gars, of which the following is a full description,referencev beinghad to theI accompanying drawings, in which- Figure lrepresents a vertical cross-section of a car to which my improvement hasbeen applied, the section being taken at w of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is asideelevation of' so much of the car as is shown in this gure, the sidebeing removed to show the interior.

The chief object of my invention is to make improvements inrefrigeratorfcars, ,designed for the transportation of'4 fresh meats,andV other similar perishable articles; and it con sists in thecombination ot' parts, as hereinafter more fully described, andpointed/out by the claim.

In the drawings, A represents a car, the body of which is constructed asusual. B is an extension at the top of the car. U is a man-hole, one ormore of which may be used. D is an icelchamber of the usual size. a areslats, uponwhich ice isto be placed. bare a series ot' shelves upon eachside of the chamber D; they are inclined, as shown, are placed a littledistance one above another, and are to be supported in any suitablemanner. They are of different widths, as shown. Between them and behindthem are spaces for the passage of air. c is a trough extending thewhole lengthvof the chamber D, to receive the water from the meltingice. el d d" is a partition. 'The part d forms one side of theice-chamber D. It extends the whole length or nearly the whole length ofthe ear. d also extends nearly the whole length of the car, and islocated a little distance below the top of the body of the car, formingan air-chamber, E. d extends down nearly to the bottom of the car, alittle distance.irom one side, and upon one side of the door in' theside of the car, forming an air-chamber, F, which is, in fact, acontinuation of E. The only inlet to the chamber D, when the car isclosed, is over' the top of d, and d is so located that there is apassage, e,

between it and wall of the extension B. F is.

a tube, to carry off the water from the trough e. It is carried back andforth through the chamber or passage F, then up to a point, c, somewhatbelow the bottom of c, then down through the bottom of the car. q is atrough below the tubes f, which are in F, to catch any condensation, andhas an outlet, h, through the bottom of the car.

In use the articles to be transported or preserved are to be placed inthe car, and a quantityof ice, or icc and salt preferably, is to beplaced in the chamber D. As the air in this chamber cools it will passbetween and back of the shelves b into the chamber E, and dow-n throughthe passage F into the body ofthe car, and among the articles 'thereplaced, at the same time air will pass up Vthrough the passage e overthe top of ol into the chamber D, and a constant circulation will bekept up.

The water formed by the'melting of the -ice will pass into c,`and thenceinto the tube f; and so much of this tube as is in the passage F and.below the point i will be constantly.

filled with water, which, especially when salt is used with the ice,will be very cold, and

4will aid materially in keeping the air cold as it passes through F.Heretofore this cold water has been allowed to escape at once. Byretaining it for a long time in the car I utilize that which has beenwasted.

-I do not limit myself to the quantity ol tubing j' shown, but,in fact,use a much larger quantity. The tubing in F might bein a perpendicularposition, but it would be more difficult to draw 0E the water, ifdesired.4 I do this by means of a cock placed at n.

In the drawings inFig. 2 I have shown only so much of a car as is on oneside of the door usually found in the side.

In use I provide a second passage, corresponding with F upon the otherside of this door, and provide a second tube correspondingwith f, andpassing, through such second chamber or passage.

Passages'similar to F could be located upon the opposite side of thecar,rbut this is not necessary. Such passages could be located at eachend of the car or through the middle thereof instead of upon the side. Iprefer the location shown. The car should be provided with double walls,as usual; but such are not shown in the drawings.

Stationary refrigerators can be constructed,

so s to embody the same principlesthzxt is air-passages E Rund e, incombination with to say, such refrigerators can he provided with thetrough c and tube f, bent upward nearly :in ieeeha-mber, withair-passages and a tube or quite to the ceiling7 lall constructedsubstanrunuing through the same, substantially as tielly as and for thepurposes specified.

above described. JAMES TURNER.

vkWhat I claim as new, and desire to secure Witnesses:

by Letters Patent, is as follows: E. A. WEST,

1u a refrigerator, the ice-chamber I), and 0. W. BOND.

